Lawmakers chop up renewable-energy fund

Joe Ryan, a researcher with the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory, takes measurements in the lab's Thermal Test
Facility

Warren Gretz

As the demand for renewable energy becomes palpable
across the West, lawmakers have taken a bold step: They’ve
slashed the U.S. Department of Energy’s budget for renewable
energy programs and directed funding toward such projects in their
own districts.

In mid-November, Congress cut about $160
million from the Energy Department’s Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy program, reducing it by 35 percent from 2005.

As a result, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in
Golden, Colo., will suffer about a 12 percent cut to its $200
million annual budget. The lab’s director, who oversees more
than 900 scientists working on research projects ranging from solar
and wind technology to alternative fuels and energy efficiency, is
faced with laying off as many as 100 employees within the next few
weeks.

Much of the money that might have gone to the lab
is instead being siphoned toward "directed" projects selected by
individual lawmakers. For instance, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.,
earmarked more than $39 million for energy projects in his state,
including $18.9 million to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas for
projects like hydrogen fuel cell and biofuel development.

Such "piecemealing" will inevitably slow efforts to develop
renewable energy sources and improve energy efficiency, says lab
spokesman George Douglas. Rather than ensuring stable funding for
long-term national projects, lawmakers are instead "more narrowly
focused on their congressional constituencies," he says.
"Congressionally directed spending does harm toward the greater
goal more often than it does any good."